


One Foot Wrong

by SophiaHawkins



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, sevasey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29521170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophiaHawkins/pseuds/SophiaHawkins
Summary: Kelly Severide has screwed up, this time so badly not even his men on Squad have his back. Now he has to try and repair his relationship with his best friend.
Kudos: 14





	One Foot Wrong

One Foot Wrong

It was quiet at Firehouse 51, not that anybody would dare admit it because that would automatically set the bells off. Casey and Severide had stepped out for a while to go back and check over the scene of a fire they'd worked last shift, something had the gears turning in one or both of the lieutenants' heads that required they go back and conduct a _secondary_ secondary search. While they were out, and no calls coming in, the silence in the common room was almost to the point of unsettling, like everybody was just waiting for something bad to happen.

It might not have been the shoe everybody was expecting to drop, but the silence was finally broken when out of nowhere, Capp took it upon himself to ask the others, "Do you ever wonder about if Casey and Severide were gay...I mean together?"

Automatically the whole common room was in an uproar of disgust that he would even dare think such a thing, it was two steps away from reaching the level of anarchy as a riot following the final score of a bad football game.

"WHY would you ask something like that?" Herrmann demanded to know.

"Oh my God, I did _not_ need that image in my head," Otis said.

"I'm gonna have to bleach my eyes," Cruz added.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mouch wanted to know.

Capp seemed unfazed by their outbursts. "So you guys never thought about it?"

"NO!" 20 firefighters answered as one, loud enough that their response bounced off the walls and reverberated through the room.

"Why would you even think of something like that?" Tony asked him.

Capp shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't know, it just kind of made sense, I mean they've known each other for 20 years, they already act like an old married couple, it just doesn't seem like all that much of a stretch."

"Oh you are sick, you know that, Capp?" Herrmann asked.

"I say we put his bunk over by the toilets tonight and as far away from the rest of us as possible," Cruz said.

Everybody's hands raised at that.

Capp still seemed largely unaffected by the reactions of his fellow firefighters and started to say, "Can we just agree-"

"NO!" everybody chimed back.

Now he was starting to look annoyed, "Will you let me finish the question?"

"As tempted as I am to say no," Herrmann said, "I guess now that you've opened this can of worms we might as well hear it so we can forget about it as quickly as possible. What is it?"

"I was going to say," Capp replied, "can we at least agree if these two _were_ a couple...that would be a volatile relationship?"

"That's the understatement of the year," Otis commented half under his breath.

"Think about it," Capp said, "Severide is a hothead, this is another understatement of the year."

"Of the century's more like it," Mouch remarked.

"And Casey...he's not quite as much of a hothead, but when push comes to shove, he doesn't back down from anything."

"Amen to that," Herrmann noted.

"These two have come close to blows a few times before," Capp said, "but I think if these two were actually..." he looked around and caught all the glaring eyes of the other firemen who were without uttering a single word warning him not to even finish that thought, "...involved," he finally got out, "I could see that being a very _violent_ relationship."

"What're you talking about?" Herrmann wasn't sure why he asked it, but Capp had his attention.

"Severide's pussywhipped by every woman he hooks up with, but Casey?" Capp shook his head, "If those two were together, and they started blowing up at each other about something like they do here...I could easily see Severide battering Casey into oblivion."

"You got," Herrmann said slowly, "A very _weird_ mind, Capp. You know that?"

"I'm just saying, it's a pretty logical conclusion," he said. "It's fortunate for everybody involved that Severide is straight, because otherwise I could see him easily being a violent boyfriend anytime he was faced with something he didn't want to hear or admit."

The conversation was quickly left there and abandoned, it had helped pass the time in an otherwise slow morning until the lieutenants got back, during which _nobody_ dared breathe one word of the discussion that had taken place in their absence, but as soon as it was over, most of them forgot all about it.

* * *

1 week later-

Herrmann was making his rounds to the customers at Molly's and saw Severide about to fall off his bar stool entirely, and his face mashed against the countertop at the bar.

"Hey Severide, think you're ready to call it a night?" he asked.

Kelly looked up at him through the one eye that wasn't forced shut against the counter. "Nah," he said, with half of his mouth pressed against the counter as well. He reached for his wallet, dug out a few bucks and told the bartender, "Keep 'em coming. You need the business."

"Yeah, but not sure your liver needs the cirrhosis," Herrmann said. All the same he took the money and went to pour another drink. He'd give Severide some leeway since it had been a bad shift yesterday for the lieutenant, and it would be easy enough for someone to drive him home at closing.

Kelly had been parked on the same bar stool for the better part of two hours knocking back one drink, after another, after another, he didn't talk to anyone, he wasn't engaging, he barely acknowledged anybody else was even there. That was anyway, until he heard the door open and heard somebody call Casey's name. Then he pried himself off the counter, spun around on his bar stool, and looked at Matt as he took his jacket off.

Severide let out a loud mocking cheer and slowly applauded as he sniped, "The hero enters."

Casey looked at him and quickly came to the same conclusion everybody else had, that Kelly was just hammered and to largely ignore him.

"How much has he had to drink?" he asked Otis in passing.

"Too damn much," Otis answered as he went to get some beers, "I'd keep my distance."

"Copy that."

That however, was easier said than done as Severide got to his feet and made his way over to Matt.

"Hey," Kelly slurred, "Don't get shy on us now, you certainly commanded an audience on that call yesterday."

"Severide, you're drunk-"

"I'm just placing credit where it's due, the big hero, who saveeeed the day," Kelly's head lolled as he slurred his words, "who saved the guy whose car rolled on 'is side...an' the guy I'm tryin'a save from his car flipped over in the ditch...burns to death, cuz I can't get to him in time...ohhhhh noooo, you knew better."

"Kelly," Casey was already very uncomfortable and didn't want to get into it with his best friend while he was drunk.

"You said 'no, don' do it that way, do this'," Kelly barbed, "You must feel _real_ proud right now."

"Kelly, I-"

"An' why not? You're the damn hero...and I..." Kelly's whole body reeled back and it looked like he'd hit the floor, but instead he found his balance and lunged forward and punched Casey in the face before anybody could even see it coming. He hit Matt with enough force that instead Casey got knocked to the floor.

"Severide!"

Kelly was oblivious to the crowd gathering around him and told the dazed man bleeding in a heap on the floor, "You took Andy from me, you took Heather from me, you think you're better than me an' you're not, you stupid-"

Whatever was about to come out of Kelly's mouth next was replaced with an ear splitting yell of pain as he felt his arm being twisted back so hard it about broke.

Capp had grabbed Kelly's wrist before he could hit Casey again and jerked his arm back behind him hard enough it was close to snapping.

"Kelly, I'm gonna break your arm if you don't calm down," he told the lieutenant, and it was obvious to everyone else in the bar that he meant it.

Kelly futilely struggled against the grip Capp had on his arm, he moaned and gnashed his teeth in pain before out and out screaming, then his body slumped as the fight left him.

Tony helped Casey to his feet, the blonde lieutenant had a cut over his eye and blood running from his nose. Once he was up he shrugged off Tony's hand and headed for the door, not meeting anybody's gaze.

* * *

Kelly's head was pounding so hard his eye sockets were throbbing before he ever tried to open his eyes. A vile taste lingered in his mouth that he couldn't even begin to think what it was. His stomach was rolling and pulsating all at once. Even with his eyes closed he squeezed them tighter shut against the bright light pouring down on his face. He turned his head to the side and forced one eye open, slowly, very slowly. Then the other eye joined it. He moved his head slightly, one way, then another, and realized he was on the floor of a bathroom. Not his, he knew that, he didn't know whose. There was a wastebasket placed beside him, and he felt something under his head, not the cold tiled floor the rest of his body was on, it was soft and lumpy, he turned his head enough to see that somebody had rolled a towel up and stuck it under his head for a pillow.

It took about ten minutes for Kelly to peel himself off the floor, and turn over on his stomach, and very shakily pull himself to his feet. He got a better look at the bathroom, which was painted a sickening yellow color, much like the tiling of the showers at 51. The sun poured in through the window. Where was he? He found the door and after a couple tries got the knob to turn, and stepped into a small hallway, which led to the kitchen. He realized as he entered the room and saw the other man sitting at the table, _Capp's_ kitchen.

"Well well well," the tall bald man said a little too cheerfully, "Look who's up at the crack of noon."

Kelly softly groaned and automatically raised both hands to the sides of his head, trying to contain the throbbing. "Not so loud...my head..."

"Ah," Capp said as he stood up at the same time Kelly pulled out a chair and collapsed at the other side of the table, "that would be the morning after hangover...don't worry, it gets better," with hardly a beat in between that sentence and the next, Capp leaned over Kelly and belted out at the top of his lungs, "AFTER IT GETS A LOT WORSE!" and he laughed at Kelly's obvious misery that ensued.

Kelly groaned and pressed his forehead against the table, "How could it get any worse than this?"

"Well you could remember how you treated Casey last night," Capp reminded him.

Another groan escaped Kelly as the memories came back. He forced himself to lean back in the chair and said, "I screwed up."

"That doesn't begin to describe it," Capp pointed out.

Kelly groaned again as he pressed one hand against his forehead, "Do you think he's still talking to me?"

"If I were a betting man, I'd say not on your life," Capp answered. "But, he has proven in the fast to be stupidly forgiving of a certain asshole who shall not be named."

"Meaning me," Kelly said weakly.

"Bingo. The way I see it, if you don't do anything to screw up again for the next couple years, you might and I mean _might_ have a chance of resolving this."

Kelly's face was about to disappear into the linoleum tabletop entirely. Capp sat back down and told him, "Kelly, nobody at 51 doubts your abilities and you know it...and even when you do stupid stuff on shift that pits the companies against each other, you know we got your back because you're the lieutenant...but what you did last night..." he lowered his head to meet Kelly's gaze and told him matter-of-factly, "If you ever pull another stunt like the one you did at Molly's last night, next time I _will_ break your arm."

Kelly lifted his head to look at the other man and slowly nodded, "I know."

"Good, now that that's settled," Capp stood up, "I'm going to fix you a Capp family hangover remedy."

Kelly sunk back down against the table and moaned as he thought about what that might consist of.

* * *

Tony unlocked the door to Casey's apartment, opened it enough to set one foot in, and looked around the place like a vampire, his eyes moved one way before his head turned that way, then his eyes turned the other way before his head did.

"Looks like the coast is clear," he said as he opened the door wide so they could both step in.

Casey walked in behind the dark haired man, his whole face bruised and swollen to the point he almost wasn't recognizable, and said with an exhausted sigh, "I appreciate this, Tony, but it's really not necessary."

"I'll be the judge of that," Tony replied as he went from one room to the next, checking for any signs of life. It didn't take long to toss the whole place and determine that there was nobody there but the two of them. He backtracked to the living room and found Casey where he'd left him. "Place is clear."

Casey slowly nodded, "Thanks, Tony."

"You sure you're gonna be alright by yourself?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Casey said, though not too convincingly, "I'll be fine."

"You know Kelly's liable to show up at any time."

"I know," Casey nodded. "I'll...I'll deal with it then."

"Those painkillers the doc gave you kicking in yet?"

Casey shrugged as he moved towards the kitchen, "I don't know..."

Tony stood in the middle of the room with his arms folded against his chest as he thought, and shook his head. He didn't like this idea one bit. After what had happened last night, they'd agreed to keep these two separated, Capp took Kelly home with him to sleep off how much he'd had to drink, and Tony went with Casey to the ER to get checked over. They were in there all night waiting for a doctor to finally look at Casey, and they'd just gotten home from the hospital. He was exhausted, he knew Casey was exhausted, and he personally wanted to kick Severide's ass all up and down Chicago for the way he'd acted last night.

Nope. He made up his mind, he wasn't going anywhere. He went into the kitchen to tell Casey he'd be staying, and walked in on the Truck lieutenant standing by the sink with his hands over his face as he cried. That would've been the perfect time to walk back out and pretend he hadn't seen anything, but a couple seconds later Casey lowered his hands and realized he wasn't alone. Even under the bruises it was noticeable that his skin was turning a shade redder as he self consciously got out, "I'm sorry."

Tony stepped over to Matt and put a hand on his shoulder, mildly surprised that Casey didn't pull back from it. "It's okay, Casey, come on, let's get you to bed before those pills knock you out completely."

* * *

A few minutes later Casey was in his bed, enjoying the feel of the soft sheets against his skin, and halfway to total unconsciousness. He felt a breeze as something cut through the air a second before he felt the weight of his bedspread dropping on him, he forced his eyes open and saw Tony standing over the bed.

Casey struggled to get the words up, it felt like his whole body was being paralyzed, his vocal cords included, "Thanks, Tony."

"Don't mention it, Casey, you just get take it easy and get some rest."

With his eyes closed, Casey scrunched his battered face into an almost frightening grin, and a sound emanated from his throat, and another, and another, and it dawned on Tony that he was laughing.

"You know something, Tony?" he asked, barely able to even open his eyes, "Your voice is starting to sound a lot like Severide's."

"Boy those were some strong drugs the doctor gave you, weren't they?" Tony replied with a small amused smile on his face. "Just get some sleep."

Casey didn't need to be told twice, in a few more seconds he was completely dead to the world.

* * *

Kelly's stomach was still roiling from whatever that concoction was that Capp had made him drink. He walked up to his and Casey's apartment, fumbled for his key, finally managed to unlock the door and stepped in.

As soon as he shut the door behind him he realized he wasn't alone. Tony was seated in the middle of the couch just looking at him.

"Tony?"

"Severide."

Kelly's eyebrows knotted together. "What're you doing here?"

"Waiting on you."

Uh oh.

"I know what you're-"

"No you don't," in one quick move Tony jumped to his feet. Kelly promptly shut up. "You don't have any idea what happened last night."

"I know I screwed up."

"That's putting it very lightly," Tony responded. He nodded towards Casey's room and told him, "Go look in there."

Kelly didn't get it, and he didn't like the way this was going. He walked over to the bedroom and looked in, and he felt his stomach drop.

Casey had rolled over onto his side in his sleep, which had pulled the covers down so his whole back was exposed, and it was all bruised purple and black.

"I didn't do _that_ ," Kelly recoiled from the sight and stepped back into the living room.

"No, you didn't," Tony said. "But after you punched him in the face in front of everyone, he stormed out of the bar, and walked straight into a mugging. Three guys jumped him and beat the shit out of him before he even got to the street. They took off when they saw us coming, they got his wallet, his phone, and his keys. The only way we were able to get in here without kicking the door in is he had a spare set in his truck. I took Casey to the ER, the cops came down, took two hours for them to finish taking Casey's statement, we _just_ got back three hours ago."

Kelly turned back to look at Casey as this announcement started to sink in. "God...how bad..."

"He got lucky, nothing's broken, no permanent damage, but Boden already said he's sitting out next shift, doc gave him some painkillers."

Kelly felt like he was just frozen there and couldn't look away from the bruises all over Casey's back. How had this happened?

"So let's try this again," Tony said, "Any chance I can leave the two of you alone and you won't be a dumbass again?"

Kelly grimaced at the question and hesitantly answered, "Yeah."

"Good, because right now Casey's got more problems than you being a self righteous asshole," Tony said, "the pricks that beat him up got his keys, and until the cops catch them, _if_ they catch them, there's no guarantee they're not going to come here and help themselves in. I already gave the place the once-over, so far nothing but that doesn't mean they're not coming."

Kelly nodded, his head throbbing every time he moved it, "I understand."

"Good, because if I find out you pulled another stupid stunt, I'm going to fold you up in one of the compartments on the rig," Tony told him. And Kelly knew he'd do it too.

* * *

Ouch, ouch...ouch. Casey couldn't get comfortable on his back and it hurt to turn over. He could feel the sun shining against his eyelids, somewhere in his mind he knew it was late, but he didn't care. He slowly opened his eyes, and he could barely even turn his head without it being excruciating, and he was mildly surprised to see Kelly hovering beside him on the bed.

"Hi," he said uncertainly.

Casey tried to smile but it hurt too much. "Hi..."

"Is it safe to touch you?" Kelly asked.

Casey tried to shrug.

"Can I?" Kelly asked anxiously.

Casey half closed his eyes, and nodded.

Kelly tried to hug him without hurting him, but had to settle for clasping his hands against Casey's shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"I..." Casey gasped around the pain, "know."

"I was an ass."

"You were a huge ass," Casey replied in a slightly amused tone.

"I feel terrible about last night," Kelly told him.

Casey gasped again, "Me too. Kelly?"

"Hmm?"

Casey looked up at him with eyes that were awake, but not fully alert, and asked in a small voice, "What did I _ever_ do to you?"

That broke Kelly's heart.

"You didn't do anything," Severide assured him, "the problem's with me, I don't know why I acted the way I did, I'm sorry."

"I know," Casey said as he reached up to hug Kelly, he moaned as he sank back against the mattress.

"Do you need anything?" Kelly asked.

Casey shook his head, and tried to push himself up, "I need to get up, I need to start on-"

It was obvious Casey wouldn't be awake long enough to do anything, Kelly lightly pushed him back and told him, "I'll take care of the cooking, you just go back to sleep."

Casey hummed softly in his throat as he quickly drifted off again.

* * *

Casey quietly padded into the kitchen wearing a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt.

"How're you feeling?" Kelly asked.

"I'll be stiff and sore for a few days, but I'll be fine," he said.

"You need your pills?"

Casey grunted and shook his head.

"I didn't know," Kelly said, "about what happened when you left."

Casey shook his head, "I wouldn't figure you did." He sighed as he sat down at the table, "I don't care that they got my money, I didn't have a lot of cash anyway, but they got my driver's license, my credit card, my debit card, my...badge..."

"I'm sorry, Casey."

"They got my phone...I have to replace everything. I should've already been on the phone with the credit card company," he sighed as he realized what he'd just said.

"You had to rest," Kelly told him, "with any luck they haven't even used them yet."

"And what if they have?" Casey asked.

"We'll get it straightened out," Kelly said.

"We?"

"Matt, I feel horrible about what I did last night...I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it up to you," Kelly told him.

"I-"

A knock at the door cut Casey off. He told Severide, "We'll talk about this later," and went to answer it.

Herrmann was there, and he looked mildly surprised to see Matt.

"Oh hey, Casey, how're you doing?"

"Fine, Herrmann."

"Yeah?" he looked past Casey and saw Severide standing towards the back and asked half under his breath, "Everything okay here?"

"Everything's fine, Herrmann, what's up?"

"Oh well I thought you could use a piece of good news...I went down to Molly's to unload a truck, and while I was there I had to take out some trash...in the dumpster behind Molly's I found..."

He reached in his coat pocket and pulled out Casey's phone, and his wallet, and his keys which had gotten stuck on the chain for his billfold.

Casey's eyes widened as much as they could in his present state. "Herrmann."

"I guess when those morons took off they got scared and tossed your stuff, right at the top of the dumpster, can you beat that?" Herrmann asked.

"Herrmann..." Casey hugged the older man, "I could kiss you."

"Eh, let's not and say we didn't, okay?" Herrmann asked as he pulled back. "I don't need to try explaining that one to Cindy. You sure everything's okay?"

"Positive, Herrmann, thanks for bringing this by," Casey said as he collected his stuff.

"Don't mention it, I'll see you around."

Casey shut the door behind him and examined the contents of his wallet. "Cash is gone, that was a given...didn't get the credit cards though, that's good."

"I'm glad," Kelly said.

Casey looked at him for a minute and said inquiringly, "Anything, huh?"

Kelly winced as he anticipated what might be coming. "You name it."

"Okay...I've got a construction job lined up next week," Casey said.

"You won't be able to-"

"You're coming along for the grunt work."

Kelly nodded, "Sure thing."

"You're also driving me there," Casey said.

"Okay."

"And you're buying breakfast."

"I can do that."

"Doughnuts," Casey poked him in the shoulder.

Kelly laughed as it started to dawn on him that Casey wasn't holding the events of last night against him. "You got it, buddy."

"One of those bear claws with cherry filling."

Kelly laughed harder as Casey kept poking him. "Whatever you want."

Casey stopped poking him and just looked at Kelly for a minute.

"Kelly, I know you're beating yourself up because you couldn't save that man, but nothing we do is guaranteed, it's all guess work and sometimes just plain luck, you know that."

"I know."

"It never gets any easier, but you know it's true."

"I know...I'm sorry I took it out on you."

"Well luckily for you I've learned not to pay too much attention to you when you're loaded," Casey said.

"I'm sorry I hit you."

"Yeah well..." Casey sighed, "I figured out a long time ago loving you meant taking the asshole you can be...with the overall decent human being you otherwise are."

Kelly laughed and carefully tried to hug him.

* * *

That night Kelly had Casey laying on two ice packs for his back, and wrapped another one in a towel and put it on one side of his face.

"Think you'll be able to sleep?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah."

"Took your pills?"

"Oh yeah..." Casey closed his eyes and grimaced, "not a pretty sight when they start kicking in, so if by any chance you hear any crying during the night, just ignore it."

"If you need anything, you know I'm just in the next room," Kelly told him.

"I know."

Casey's eyes were already half closed as he gazed up at Severide for a few seconds.

"What're you looking at?" Kelly asked.

"You."

"Why?"

"No reason...just wondering why you have such rotten luck finding a woman."

Kelly laughed, "Where'd that come from?"

"Don't get me wrong, you're not much to look at," Casey smirked slightly as he felt Kelly jab him in the leg, "but you're a pretty decent nursemaid."

"Very funny."

Casey tiredly smiled at him, then reached one hand up to hold the ice pack in place, and lifted his head off the pillow enough to lightly kiss Kelly on his forehead, then laid back down and all but closed his eyes as he tiredly got out, "'uve you."

Kelly smiled down at him and told the blonde lieutenant as he pulled the covers up, "Love you too, buddy."

Casey's eyes were shut and he could hardly talk as he tried to force out, "I'll be...better...'n the, morning."

"I know you will," Kelly replied. "Goodnight, Matt."

"Hmmm," Casey sighed peacefully in his sleep.


End file.
